FORMER AFGHAN CUSTOMS CHIEF SAYS AFGHANISTAN LOSING WAR AGAINST DRUGS

LONDON - A Pakistani man sewed opium into the beads of a tapestry. An
Afghan taped drug bags to his body. A Chinese woman tucked narcotics
into hollowed heels.

Afghan Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil says he arrested them all, and that
has been the source of all his problems. The Afghan government,
however, accuses Amarkhil of corruption and wants him returned to his
homeland for questioning.

Until October, Amarkhil was a top customs official in the world's
largest opium producer, responsible for halting the flow of drugs
through Afghanistan's main airport. Now he is seeking asylum in
London, claiming his life is in danger from drug lords who pressured
the government to fire him amid corruption charges.

"If I was corrupt I wouldn't be here now," Amarkhil told The
Associated Press as he sat huddled by a space heater in a cramped
one-room apartment in a west London suburb. "If I accepted money the
smugglers offered me, I would be a very rich man today. One thing is
clear: I am here because I didn't deal with them."

Though Western backers of President Hamid Karzai's government have
pumped hundreds of millions of aid into anti-drugs programs,
corruption at every level of government has made it impossible to
make significant inroads, experts say. U.S. officials have said the
drug trade helps fund the Taliban-led insurgency.

Last year, Afghanistan had a record opium crop, producing enough to
make 670 tons of heroin, even more than the world's addicts consume annually.

Amarkhil spent 18 months as the customs chief at Kabul International
Airport. Far from the modern world of X-ray machines and drug-trained
dogs, officials at the Kabul airport often worked without even the
basics, like electricity.

"I had no machines, no scanners, not even any (sniffer) dogs. All I
had was my experience, my spies and Allah," he said, pointing his
finger to the sky.

Amarkhil contends he was so successful he upset druglords tied to
corrupt government officials, who in turn, accused him of corruption.

Afghan Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Aloko says Amarkhil fled
rather than face scrutiny; Amarkhil says he was questioned and
released, but left fearing death threats.

"He was scared because we had strong evidence for what he was
accused," Aloko said. "We are trying to bring him back to the country
with the help of Interpol."

Britain's Home Office and its Serious Organized Crime Agency would
not confirm or deny receiving any extradition requests.

Amarkhil disputes the allegations, saying the charges were trumped up
by officials in the pay of drug kingpins. The 44-year-old father of
seven earned a salary of $500 a month - and said he was routinely
offered bribes of $2,000 to $5,000 by traffickers to let their cargo through.

A senior Western official in Kabul, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter,
described Amarkhil as "fairly aggressive" in carrying out his duties.
He said the alleged corruption was low-level - involving such things
as visas and parking fees.

Amarkhil said he can prove his claim that high-placed officials allow
drug runners to operate brazenly. From a suitcase, the former customs
officer brought out videotapes describing dates and times of some of
his most successful busts.

The videotapes show smugglers being taken into a room to be
questioned, as their stash of drugs was laid before them. Dozens of
nationalities were represented: Pakistani men with long beards, Thai
women, Chinese girls and Nigerian businessmen.

One showed an Afghan man allegedly caught trying to conceal 14 pounds
of heroin. In another, a woman caught with two pounds of heroin
threatened Amarkhil with retaliation from "friends in high places."
She was freed in less than a month, Amarkhil said.

Corruption in the country's central institutions not only stymies the
fight against drugs ahead of this year's upcoming harvest, but also
poses an increased risk to the 30,000-strong NATO force battling the
Taliban-led insurgency, Amarkhil said.